Ways to distinguish yourself – #6 Ask for help

Ways to distinguish yourself – #6 Ask for help

By Rajesh Setty on Sun 06 Mar 2005, 11:11 PM – 3 Comments

I was thinking of a title like “Leverage” for this post but decided to be more direct and hence the title “Ask for help.”

Most of us know that in some cultures, asking for help has a negative

connotation (may show a sense of incapability) Most of us don’t ask for

help and beat ourselves to death trying to figure out everything by

ourselves. It is not required. Life can be simpler than that. In fact,

I feel that there is more help than you may need out there. The

pre-requisite, though, is that you should be ready to give when it is your time. It is a two-way street.

There are so many people that are out there who have the right

knowledge and resources that might solve your problems or open up new

opportunities for you. That’s why they say that it’s not what you know but who you know that matters.

Whenever I teach, I always start by saying that since I have not learnt

mind reading, it is upto the students to talk and ask for help.

The same is true in business and in life. You have to ask and only then you shall receive. Please make it a point to ask for help with someone this week. Watch the miracles unfold!!

Bonus: You might get a side benefit from asking – humility (which I think is a great virtue to have)

 

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3 Comments so far, Add Yours

Anonymous  on March 23rd, 2006

Very truely said. But I think instead of just asking help, when to ask it is also important point to ponder upon. I konw few people who without proactively trying to find the solution for any problem, just ask to their near-n-dear ones.

I understand that asking someone may solve the problem immediately. But if you yourself get into the problem and dig into it to find the solution, and if you are successful to find the solution, then that gives you immense satisfaction of achievement as well as its a great learning experience of how to solve any problem systematically. You need to draw a line till that time you are going to try on your own and there after you can ask for others help.

Your post make sense but I think it should handle more aspects of how to ask help and when to ask it. People get habit of just dialing cell phone and asking for help. They stop thinking on thier own. They stop googling for that matter. In all, I think this habit can lead to diminish the individual’s potential to push to his limits.

I think the approach should be well balanced. First fight on your own, when situation is not good, then ask for guidence and then try to push more on your own and at the end if you are just not able to get it, then go and ask for HELP!

Hope you agrees to what I am saying.

Best,

Aditya

Anonymous  on March 23rd, 2006

Thanks Aditya.

I agree with you on the point that no one should just ask for help to avoid or escape from work. That is not the point. If they are doing that, after some time they won’t get any help and probably people will stop returning their phone calls :)

Cheers,

Rajesh

The Need to Know a Little About a Lot « Ryan Dawidjan  on January 6th, 2010

[…] a niche passion or interest. Not only can you genuinely connect with them, but you can then practice humility by asking a question(s) about their beloved interest. In the end, one party has learned […]

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